The HAPPINESS Colloquium film series at Lebanon Valley College will feature the film, “Pursuit of Happyness” (2006) at the Allen Theatre in Annville Tuesday, January 29 at 5:30 p.m. The film is free for LVC students, $1 for non-LVC students and $3 for the public.

The story line—based on a true story—follows a man named Chris Gardner, played by actor Will Smith. After heavily investing in a device that leaves him without a wife, house or money, he is forced out on the streets with his five-year-old son his ex-wife has left behind for a life in New York.

Desperate to find a steady job, Gardner struggles to maintain positivity and happiness. Committed to his son’s well-being, he attempts to gain a job as a stockbroker, but his persistence is tested when he is forced to endure six months of training before ever seeing a penny of his paycheck.

“Pursuit of Happyness” has been selected for a total of 28 awards since its debut in December 2006, including both Oscar and Golden Globe nominations in 2007.

HAPPINESS is a year-long integrated series of guest speakers, roundtable discussions, films and courses that will consider the meaning and importance of happiness as a psychological, physiological, social and cultural phenomenon. It involves presentations by speakers from a number of disciplines who approach the theme from the standpoints of the arts, the wellness of body and mind, the demands of a consumer economy, the expectations and duties of political life, and the broad philosophical questions of human flourishing. On the web at www.lvc.edu/live-calendar.

Lebanon Valley College® in Annville, Pa., welcomes 1,600 full-time undergraduates studying more than 30 majors, as well as self-designed majors.
Founded in 1866, LVC has graduate programs in athletic training, business, music education, physical therapy, and science education.
Annville is 15 minutes east of Hershey and 35 minutes east of Harrisburg; Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore are within two hours.